<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Secrets by awgaskarth0805</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208808">Secrets</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805'>awgaskarth0805</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All Time Low (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:22:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,150</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208808</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's mind ruins what was supposed to be a great night out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I don’t know, man, I’m not sure if I really feel like going to a party tonight,” Jack said to Alex over the phone, taking a seat on his bed.<br/>“Come on, man, it’s a senior party, it’s a miracle we even got invited, since we’re just sophomores. We’ve always said that if we actually got invited to one, we’d definitely go. Don’t bail on me now,” Alex begged, making Jack start to feel slightly guilty.<br/>“Can’t you go with Rian or Zack?” Jack asked back.<br/>“No, Zack has a family thing tonight, and Rian said he wasn’t feeling great. Besides, you’re my best friend, and I’d rather go with you, anyway. Will you please go with me? If it’s lame, we can just leave and come back to my house, which is within walking distance from where the party is, so we won’t even have to figure out how to get home drunk later. Please?” Alex tried. Jack took a deep breath, deciding that he couldn’t let his friend down.<br/>“Okay, fine, I’ll go,” Jack eventually said, not sounding very excited.<br/>“Fuck yeah! You won’t regret this, man! Eat something, then come here. It starts in, like, fifteen minutes, but we don’t want to be the first people there, that would be awkward,” Alex said, laughing some.<br/>“For sure. I’ll be there soon,” Jack said, hanging up the phone. <br/>Instead of getting up to eat something, Jack just stayed in his bed, unable to force himself to do anything. He didn’t even use his phone, he just let his mind overwhelm him, until he knew he had to leave. <br/>Once ten minutes had passed, Jack got out of bed, and threw some clothes into a bag, since he knew he’d be sleeping at Alex’s after the party. He went out to his car, then drove over to Alex’s getting there in about fifteen minutes. When he pulled into the driveway, he realized that he couldn’t remember anything from the drive over, since he hadn’t paid much attention, which freaked him out some. <br/>After taking a deep breath, Jack grabbed his things and walked up to the front door, ringing the bell. Just seconds later, the door opened up, and Jack saw Alex, who looked the most excited Jack had seen him look.<br/>“Put your backpack in my room, then we can get going. This party is going to be so awesome! I promise you won’t regret going once we get there!” Alex exclaimed as they went upstairs to his bedroom.<br/>“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Jack replied, forcing himself to smile.<br/>“You’re acting weird. I think you just need a couple drinks to loosen up a bit,” Alex stated, laughing some.<br/>“You’re right, I just need to loosen up a bit, like you said. We should get going,” Jack said, wanting to change the subject.<br/>“Shit, yeah, we need to get going. It’ll take about ten minutes to walk over to where the party is,” Alex replied.<br/>“That’s not too bad, I’m glad it’s close by,” Jack said, as they went outside, and started to walk to where the party was. <br/>“Me too, it’ll make getting home a hell of a lot easier. I’m glad you’re going with me, because that senior girl I like is going to be there, and I might need you to be my wingman, since you’re so good at it. I’ll help you try to get a girl, too, as a thank you,” Alex said, nudging his friend. <br/>“We’ll see, I’m not really in the mood to flirt with a bunch of girls tonight,” Jack replied.<br/>“Yeah, right, that’s funny. Anyway, I’m so excited!” Alex exclaimed. The rest of the walk was silent, and Jack used that time to get in head over what had been bothering him lately. <br/>It did somewhat offend and surprise Jack that Alex seemed to have no idea that something was bothering him, but he didn’t really want to bring that up, since talking about this kind of thing was hard for him, so Jack decided that it was for the best that Alex was being so ignorant. <br/>“We’re finally here!” Alex stated once they reached the house where the party was.<br/>“Hell yeah we are!” Jack replied, any trace of excitement in his voice being completely forced. They went through the front door, and quickly found a group of kids they were friends with from their math class.<br/>“Hey guys, what’s up?” Alex said as they went over to their friends. <br/>The group greeted the two of them, but Jack didn’t say anything, not having the energy to do so. Another friend of theirs brought them each a beer, and they all stood out of the way in the living room and talked. <br/>Jack drank his beer fairly quickly, and this mixed with the fact that he didn’t eat dinner caused him to get drunk very fast. The alcohol was making him feel numb, which was what he wanted, so he decided he was far from being done drinking for the night.<br/>“Hey, I’m going to go grab another drink, do you want one, man?” Jack asked, partly wanting an excuse to be alone for a minute.<br/>“No need to get one, man, I have a couple more here!” one of their friends exclaimed, proudly taking a couple beers out of his pockets, impressing all of his friends.<br/>“Thanks man!” Alex exclaimed, grabbing both of the beers, and handing one to Jack.<br/>“Hey look, there’s a game of beer pong about to start over there, let’s try to get in it!” another friend exclaimed, pointing to a game was taking place on the dining room table. <br/>Everyone started to walk over to the dining room, and Jack stayed towards the back, still not wanting to talk to people. As the game started, Jack started to get in his head, and his thoughts started to spiral. The alcohol made this worse, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to act like he was okay. <br/>He watched the game for a few more minutes, quickly deciding that he couldn’t handle being around others anymore.<br/>“I’ll be right back, I’m going to the bathroom,” Jack said to Alex, desperately trying to maintain his composure. <br/>“Oh okay, well, don’t take too long, I want to get into the next game!” Alex exclaimed, that same look of excitement from earlier returning to his face. <br/>Jack gave a small, forced smile in reply before quickly making his way over to the first bathroom he could fin. He walked in and shut the door, then set his drink on the counter, before looking at himself in the mirror. His vision was a bit blurred from the alcohol, but he was okay with that, unsure if he’d really be able to look at himself if he could. Seconds later, he started to cry, unable to control himself.<br/>-------------<br/>“Alex, you’ve got to be my partner for the next game! I bet we’d win so easily!” one of Alex’s friends exclaimed, as the current game was finally coming to an end.<br/>“Nah dude, I want to be partners with Jack for the next game,” Alex replied.<br/>“Well, he’s not here, so you might as well play with me,” his friend continued.<br/>“Wait, Jack left, like, twenty minutes ago and still hasn’t come back, that’s weird,” Alex observed, starting to feel worried about his friend.<br/>“I’m sure he’s fine, he’s probably flirting with a girl or something,” Alex’s friend replied.<br/>“I think I’m gong to try to find him, he’s been kind of off all day. Play with someone else for now, I’ll play later,” Alex decided. Before his friend could say anything else, Alex quickly pushed his way out of the crowd, and made his way over to the first bathroom he saw.<br/>“Jack, are you in here?” Alex asked, knocking on the door. <br/>He got no response, but decided to just open the door, for if Jack really was in there. Alex felt a bit nervous to do this, not wanting to walk in on something he wasn’t supposed to see, but when he finally opened it, the sight he did see was much worse than what he’d expected. <br/>Jack was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his head was in his hands, and Alex could hear him crying over the loud music that was playing throughout the house. Alex walked into the bathroom and shut the door before taking a seat on the floor next to his friend. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, which got his friend’s attention. <br/>Jack’s eyes went wide when he saw Alex, and he did his best to quickly wipe away the tears that were racing down his face.<br/>“Alex, what’re-“ Jack started, his voice weak.<br/>“Jack, what’s going on? Why are you crying in here? Did something happen out there that upset you?” Alex asked.<br/>“No, I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” Jack tried, his voice cracking at the end.<br/>“Don’t even try to tell me that, I can clearly see that’s a lie. Jack, seriously man, what’s wrong?” Alex continued, sounding as worried as he felt. <br/>“I don’t know how to explain it. Let’s just go back out there and pretend that this didn’t happen. I want you to enjoy tonight, since you’ve been so excited for this party,” Jack replied, desperately trying to change the subject.<br/>“Well, I can’t really enjoy it now, since I know something is up with you, and that you’re upset. Jack, you’re my best friend, and I’m concerned now. Will you please tell me what’s wrong, so I can try and help you?” Alex stated, looking at his friend.<br/>“Okay, fine. To be totally honest, I don’t really know what’s wrong with me. I’ve just not felt like myself lately. I’ve felt depressed, like, actually depressed, for the first time in my life, and I don’t really know how to handle it. I can’t get my brain out of this shitty thought pattern, nothing works. I feel like I’m drowning, and I don’t know how to get my head above the water,” Jack explained, putting his head back down, starting to cry harder. <br/>Alex was speechless, he had absolutely no idea that Jack had been feeling so miserable lately. He put his arm around Jack, and let his friend cry into his shoulder, deciding to let Jack calm down before trying to talk to him again. <br/>After a few minutes, Alex thought it was time to speak.<br/>“Jack, I had literally no idea that you’ve been feeling so down, and I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on it,” Alex said, hugging his friend closer to him.<br/>“I tried to bottle it up as much as I could, so it’s not your fault. I’ve been hoping that this feeling would just go away, but it’s only gotten worse over time. The alcohol made all of my thoughts more intense, and I just couldn’t be out there, pretending to be okay anymore, so I came in here. Sorry for ruining your night with this shit,” Jack said, sounding guilty.<br/>“Don’t apologize, you haven’t ruined anything, man. I’m sorry I forced you to come to this party when you clearly didn’t want to. I shouldn’t have been so selfish,” Alex continued.<br/>“It’s okay, I did have some hope that this party would snap me out of this shit, but I guess it didn’t,” Jack replied, wiping away more tears.<br/>“I want to help you through this, Jack, and I don’t just mean for tonight. It breaks my heart to know that you’re hurting so much, and I really do want to help you get to the other side of this,” Alex stated, sounding serious.<br/>“You have your own life to deal with, I don’t want you to be constantly worried over me,” Jack said back.<br/>“Like I said, you’re my best friend, and I can’t just leave you to fight this alone. From now on, reach out to me when you hit lows like this. I know it’s easier said than done, but please try it. I’ll be right here, and I’ll do everything I can to help you through this, I promise,” Alex said.<br/>“Thank you, Alex. This has been so hard to deal with alone. I don’t really know what to say, but thank you,” Jack sincerely replied, finally looking up at his best friend. Alex could see the pain in his friend’s eyes, and was determined to change that. <br/>“You’re so welcome, I’ve got you man. Let’s get out of here,” Alex suggested, helping Jack up, and leading him out of the house, before they started down the street. <br/>Jack was still hurting, but he knew that having by his side through this would help, and that things would slowly start to go up from here.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys, this was an idea based off of a tiktok I saw! I have a couple more ideas that I plan on writing, but I'd love some requests from you guys! I'm open to basically anything, so please send in ideas if you have them! Thank you for reading, it really does mean so much. Lots of love, Liv.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>